Martin Lol

Belgravia won't be interested in a Championship team.

Very true. The possibility of relegation is more real to some of those teams than others though.

Didn't think anyone was exempt from criticism tonight.

Inept, no heart, no fight. Moore was an embarrassment, Bramble (bless his heart) tries but isn't very good, and Carr........ well, excuse my laughter but Newcastle paid good money for him. Honestly can't see how Newcastle can avoid the drop because all the teams around them will be fighting to the end and they will pick up points (like tonight). All the qualities needed to get the club clear of the relegation zone were missing tonight.

Is the Carling Cup match on Tuesday being televised as well? Sky pay £200k to the home team, not £350k. If it is, I suppose losing income from 2 televised matches would be a blow, but not getting 3 points and going out of the CC would be a bigger one.

Having a high coefficient has never won a competition, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets does that. Highly unlikely for Newcastle to win the Uefa Cup imho. And before anyone asks, likewise for Spurs.

The Times are reporting that Chelsea are keen to do a swap deal plus cash adjustment http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,277-2436848,00.html Chelsea wait in the wings with £20m Lennon bid By Matt Hughes CHELSEA are planning an audacious attempt to sign Aaron Lennon from Tottenham Hotspur. The Barclays Premiership champions, who play at White Hart Lane tomorrow, will make a discreet inquiry about the England winger’s availability when the transfer window opens on January 1, but are more confident of securing his signature next summer. Lennon has 3½ years left on his contract and it will take a fee in excess of £20 million to persuade Tottenham to sell, with Chelsea hoping to use Shaun Wright-Phillips as the makeweight in the transfer. Wright-Phillips, 25, who cost Chelsea £21 million, has made little progress after failing to impress during his first season at Stamford Bridge and José Mourinho views Lennon, 19, as a much better prospect. With Joe Cole and Arjen Robben already in his squad, Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, appears to be well blessed with wingers, but Chelsea’s ambition is to collect the best young players in the world and Frank Arnesen, Chelsea’s head of development and scouting, has convinced the club’s board that Lennon falls into that category. Having recommended the former Leeds United winger to Tottenham before his controversial switch from White Hart Lane to Stamford Bridge 18 months ago, Arnesen is the driving force behind the move. Tottenham inserted a clause preventing Chelsea signing any of their players for a year when the £6 million compensation package for Arnesen was agreed, but that cooling-off period has passed. Lennon would be eligible to play in the Champions League if Chelsea get their man in January. Uefa rules allow them to add three players to their squad for the knockout stages, one of whom can have played in the Uefa Cup. Like Arnesen before him, Lennon would more than double his £25,000-a-week wages if he moved to Stamford Bridge, but whether he is prepared to sacrifice the virtual guarantee of first-team football remains to be seen. The experience of Wright-Phillips provides a salutary lesson that the biggest clubs are not always the best places for young players to nurture their skills. He has started only 12 league matches since his move from Manchester City in July 2005. In contrast, despite several injuries, Lennon has made 26 Premiership starts for Tottenham in 18 months at the club. His speed and trickery have enabled him to become a Spurs regular over the past 12 months and, after the banishment of David Beckham, he is well placed to challenge for a place in Steve McClaren’s first XI, with the England head coach committed to building a team based on pace. Such progress has not gone unnoticed by Mourinho, who believes that Lennon uses the ball more intelligently and has greater potential than Wright-Phillips. Losing Lennon to their bitter rivals would be a huge blow to Tottenham fans, but Martin Jol may take a more pragmatic view. The head coach is a huge admirer of Wright-Phillips and may find a cash-plus-player exchange hard to resist if the money was right. I'm told the enquiry has already been made, SWP + £12m. Most fans on the Spurs forums are telling Jose to shove it, but I'm far from convinced. SWP hasn't become a bad player overnight and should be worth £10m+ (imo) and an extra £12m makes that, for me, an attractive deal. What would you do?

If Arsenal bought him, it would probably be for about £3m with some add-ons. Van Persie reputedly cost only £3.5m rising to £5m.

Uh, why? Harper came in and looked dodgy, Krul came in and played an amazing game. Krul is undroppable after that performance last night. Not according to your manager. :winking:

You have to remember there's only something like 36 hours between Palermo ending and Sheff Utd starting. The players do have to recover and I think there will be a lot of changes. Goes to show that FFS is happy to knacker his players just to get a bit of Sky money in. Spurs had a similar situation for their match with the spanners and pulled out, giving them an extra days rest. Sky told Spurs that they would get an extra game later in the season so nothing lost. Spurs got 3 points from that match, would they have got them if the match had been played 24 hour earlier? Maybe, maybe not. Lousy decision by FFS imho and will be all the worse if Newcastle don't take all 3 points in what is an important match for both clubs.

Arsene Wenger who with Comoli is close with N’Zogbia agent has already said he won't be buying anyone in the January transfer window, However the Person (Comoli) will however try and get Shepherd to part with Charles is Tottenham, its well known Spurs desperately need a Left Winger to balance their side and Martin Jol working with Comoli (who as Director of Football has a huge impact on who goes on their shortlist ) will try and do the deal for N'Zogbia this January. Freddy Shepherd needs Roeder to balance up the income and outcome just like Sir Bobby Robson did (net 28 million spent and brought in huge money through sales and league positions and European football consistently revenue) its probable N’Zogbia will be one of the incoming fee’s needing to balance the book along with a few other names. With the money Spurs have Freddy Shepherd will likely let Charles go for a mere £6million I’ve already got my money on N’Zogbia going to Tottenham so don’t be surprised I would be extremely surprised if, when N'Zogbia moves, it isn't to Arsenal. The likelihood of him going to Spurs is remote even though there has been interest in the past. The latest thinking is to try Lennon on the left (as he has done for the last 3 games) and if he adapts to that role, there would be a strong case to get SWP for the right. Getting N'Zogbia is off the radar at the present time.

Good idea, drop Parker because Newcastle won without him. At the same time FFS could flog Given because Newcastle's now found a goalkeeper who can keep a clean sheet. :roll:

Amazing result, not in the least what I was expecting!! Obviously never saw the match, been watching a superb performance from Spurs. bluebiggrin.gif

Obviously too young to have seen Kryuff's Ajax play live. That team was so far ahead of the opposition in respect of ability, technique, tactics and performance I'd rate them better than Real Madrid. Benfica were lucky to win the Cup in 62, in fact they were lucky to beat Spurs in the semi final.

Ex Newcastle player Andy Cole I mean. He would have been a good signing although maybe the hierarchy might have thought it was a backward step (or a reminder of what a player you had missed out on). One of the very few players who have gone through the scum academy who I have any time for. In fact, in Cole's case, I can honestly say I respect him as a master of his craft. Always has scored goals, always will. Top man.

For the best part of 2 months Spurs have been watching Yildiray Basturk who in all probability will be leaving Hertha Berlin on a bosman in the summer and it's been pretty widely reported in the Spurs pages in the past week or so. Comolli was there last week watching him against Cottbus sitting next to the European scout (?) for Newcastle. Berbatov is pushing Spurs' case forward (they played together at Bayer Leverkusen) and Emre is reportedly talking up Newcastle. No idea who else are interested but the Premiership is definitely the favoured destination. I've seen nothing in the press about Newcastle's interest, that came to me out of WHL for what it's worth. http://www.squarefootball.net/article/article.asp?aid=3838

Lee YP (Wipey) Also BAE = Benoit Assou- Ekotto

Wipey's pretty solid all round although better going forward than defending. Not much doubt that BAE will be a lot better than Wipey in time (but not yet) so I don't think Spurs will stand in his way if he does eventually decide to go to Italy. Only cost £1.35m so we'll make a profit on him, Roma were talking about £3m. Looking at their respective strengths and weaknesses, I would have said Bridge would be far ahead of Wipey on Newcastle's wish list.

But I hope if we do win then Roeder will get some credit, instead of everyone lauding Viera. But can you honestly see Newcastle winning at Palermo, with or without Vieira's inside knowledge?

If Newcastle's near the top at the end of the season?? If a bid of £8m came in for Emre I'm sure FFS would snap their hands off.

Word

Bendtner is hugely rated by the Woolwich pikeys, they rabbit on about him as much as they did about Fabregas a couple of years ago. I don't see him moving anywhere tbh.

Only 500%? Sounds drastic, but really your understating the fact. I think Campbell influence has been overstated personally. He is part of an extremely well organised (Courtesy of Tony Adams) defensive unit, and he is surrounded on all sides by experience and quality. James, Stefanovic, Primus, Glen Johnson with his head screwed on, right up thru Sean Davis and Benjani, it all makes a big difference defensively. Obviously a good player but hes no miracle worker. Even though I have the greatest of contempt for him, I think you are underestimating his ability to organise a defence massively.

:lol: What makes you think you could do the job so badly?? :winking: Your like putting up with sweaty bollocks when your a fat ****. But when we lose the weight, its goodbye to the irritation. :lol:

George Robledo was my Mum's idol, probably the first South American to play in England. Mum met him a couple of times on trains going to matches, he was terrified of coaches and always went to away matches by train on his own and meet up with the rest of the team at a pub near the ground! :lol: